(11) O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged. (12) Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels. (13) Now for a recompense in the same, I (speak as unto my children), be ye also enlarged. (14) Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? (15) And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? (16) And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. (17) Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. (18) And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
The Apostle here addresseth the Church. After speaking to the ministers, he now speaks to the people. An enlarged heart of affection to the whole body of Christ, could not but shew itself, in suitable terms, of the warmest desires for their welfare. And the whole Chapter, taken into one point of view, forms a very beautiful address, of the great Apostle to the Church at Corinth, including both the minister and congregation, of what would form a lovely representation, in their union with Christ, and with one another; when under grace, those directions were closely attended to, and followed.
I do not think it needful, to enter into a particular investigation, of the several interesting things, which Paul here so affectionately recommends. The words themselves are very plain, and the importance of the measure unanswerably conclusive, and binding. The whole of his arguments are truly Scriptural, and come home; enforced by every motive, which can endear them to the heart. But what I more immediately would beg the Reader to observe from them is what the Lord hath here confirmed, of his indwelling residence in his people. Through all the Old Testament dispensation, God the Holy Ghost taught the Church, to be in the constant expectation of this great, but mysterious event. The promise began very early in the Church, while forming in the wilderness. I will set my tabernacle among you, (said the Lord;) and my soul, shall not abhor you. As if the conscious sense of our uncleanness might tempt a child of God to call it in question. No! said the Lord. As the foreknowledge, and fore-view the Son of God had of his Church's fall, in the Adam-nature, did not prevent Him, as God-Man-Mediator, to tabernacle in our flesh; yea, to be made in the likeness of sinful flesh: Romans 8:3. so neither shall the uncleanness of his people, hinder God the Spirit, from making their bodies his temple. I will walk among you, said the Lord; and will be your God, and ye shall be my people, Leviticus 26:11-12. And the Prophet, in after ages, and coming nearer home to Gospel days, was commissioned to tell the Church the same truth. I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh; and I will put my Spirit within you, Eze 36:26-27; 1 Corinthians 3:16; Hebrews 3:6
I pray the Reader to pause over this very sweet Scripture. Nothing can be more plain, from Scripture authority, than that the Son of God hath tabernacled in our flesh, John 1:14. And nothing can be more plain, than that, God by his Spirit promised, and hath fulfilled it, to dwell in his people. Paul speaks of this, as so well known, and so certain a truth, that he demands of the Church their conviction of this doctrine, as of a most well-assured, and most cordially believed thing: Know ye not, (saith he), that ye are the temple of God; and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? 1 Corinthians 3:16. And Jesus himself; in his farewell discourse with his disciples, within a few verses of each other, speaks of himself, and the Father, and the Holy Ghost, dwelling, and making their abode with his people. If a man love me, he will keep my words; and my Father will love him, and we will come and make our abode with him. And, speaking of the Holy Ghost, Jesus said: he shall abide with you forever. He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you, John 14:23; John 14:23. So that, here are the whole Three Persons of the Godhead, positively said, to dwell in the Lord's people. And what I beg the Reader particularly to notice, in this mysterious work of love, and grace, and favor, which distinguisheth the Church of God from the Christless world, is this: that notwithstanding, in the great work of regeneration, it is the spiritual part only of every child of God that is renewed, and made a partaker of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust, 2 Peter 1:3-4. yet the unrenewed part, the body, is said to be the temple of the Holy Ghost. Yea, the whole Persons of the Godhead, (as hath been shewn in this paragraph in the Scriptures quoted), are said to make their abode with the Lord's people. So that the body, unrenewed as it is, and, unrenewed as it will remain, until this corruptible shall put on incorruption, is nevertheless, as much as the spirit, the tabernacle of the Lord, Leviticus 26:11. And hence Paul calls upon the Church, to glorify God in their body, as well as in their spirit, which are His, 1 Corinthians 6:20. Will it be said, this is mysterious! I would answer, in the words of the Apostle; without all controversy, great is the mystery of Godliness! And, what begins in Paul's relation of it, with God manifest in the flesh; may be well supposed to be followed, with justified in the Spirit, 1 Timothy 3:16. Reader! we are in a world of mystery. But remember, these grand and momentous truths are proposed to the Church, as the objects of faith: not for our faculties to explain. lf, Nicodemus like, we demand explanation how can these things be? we presume to try them by our standard of apprehension; and instead of belief, substitute reason. See Ephesians 2:22, and Commentary.
From a presumption like this let me call off your attention to what the Apostle so sweetly recommends, and with which he closeth the Chapter. He first gives us the words of God in his promise, and then the assurance of God in his blessing. I will dwell in them, and walk in them, saith God. Wherefore, come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing: and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty Reader! these are God's assurances. Our province is to believe. What though you and I both know, that it is our spiritual part only that is regenerate, the body is still the subject of sin; yet it is as much the Lord's, as is the spirit: and in it the Lord dwells, for it is his temple. And, notwithstanding all we feel, and all we groan under, from being daily burdened from the warfare of the lusts which are in our flesh; yet both in body, and in spirit, we are the Lord's. And God declares that he dwells in us, in a special, personal, and intimate manner. Reader! see to it, that those blessed testimonies of the divine inhabitation are in your portion; and then by faith, may the Lord give you, to take to yourself, all that personal interest, and holy joy, it clearly brings.